Q&A: Emotion and Jewish Law
Emotion and Jewish Law
Question
The Rabbi wrote in column 467 about the involvement of emotion in Jewish law—that they are two separate things, and that it is forbidden to mix emotion into a halakhic ruling.
And that seems a bit difficult, since it is written that a person who has no children cannot judge capital cases, because he will not have mercy on the defendant. That would seem to imply that there is, in fact, a mixing of emotion and Jewish law.
And perhaps, according to what the Rabbi says, women should not be allowed to rule on matters of Jewish law, out of concern that they would mix emotion into their halakhic rulings.
Answer
Emotion cannot make decisions. But emotion can provide relevant data. Empathy for another person conveys to me his situation and distress. Now the intellect comes and decides what the Jewish law is.
A person without children may perhaps be lacking in empathy, and therefore will not have the necessary data to decide correctly.
Something like this I have mentioned more than once regarding people who asked me whether, in a match, one should follow the heart or the mind. I answered: only the mind—but the mind should take into account the data conveyed by the heart (whether there is chemistry, love, etc.).